Tag: Baroness Pinnock

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the necessity to ensure that private finance initiative hospitals retain maximum use is distorting the siting of full accident and emergency and consultant-led maternity units.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Decisions on reconfiguration are for local commissioners based on identification of local need. NHS England published Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients on 29 October 2015, a copy of which is attached, providing refreshed guidance for those considering, and involved in, service reconfiguration.

The guidance makes clear that any proposal for service reconfiguration must satisfy the Government’s four tests for change:

(i) strong public and patient engagement;

(ii) consistency with current and prospective need for patient choice;

(iii) a clear clinical evidence base; and

(iv) support for proposals from clinical commissioners.

The guidance includes that commissioners should build proposals by identifying the range of service change options that could improve outcomes within available resources; and that proposals should be clear about the impact of the proposed changes on outcomes for patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have carried out any research into the effect of excessive traffic speed in 30mph areas on the quality of life of residents in those areas.

Baroness Kramer

The Government has not carried out any specific research into the effect of excessive speed in 30mph areas on the quality of life of residents. Local authorities have the power to set local speed limits, and implement physical road changes to suit local conditions. The Department for Transport has provided advice to highway authorities in the Speed Limit Circular 01/2013 – Setting Local Speed Limits.

However, the Department has commissioned research into the effectiveness of 20mph limits. The study will cover many aspects including effects on speed, collisions, casualties and modal shift. The research will also consider best practice, road users’ perceptions and effects on the quality of the environment. This is a three year study reporting in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to give the responsibility for traffic speed enforcement on roads with a 30mph limit to local authorities.

Baroness Kramer

Her Majesty’s Government does not plan to give responsibility for traffic speed enforcement to the local authorities. These decisions on where to apply speed limits are taken by local authorities in conjunction with the police force for the area in question, whose role it is to properly enforce these.